A regional bank headquartered in the state of Georgia, United Community Bank, has recently been sued in a debit card overdraft fees class action lawsuit. The bank also provides services in additional states, including Tennessee and North Carolina.

According to The Chattanoogan, the debt card overdraft fees class action lawsuit was filed in Knoxville federal court. The lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Dennis J., who seeks “redress for UCB’s alleged routine practice of assessing overdraft fees on debit card transactions that did not overdraw checking account available balances, along with multiple insufficient funds fees on a single transaction.” Dennis filed the debit card overdraft fees lawsuit on behalf of himself and all those similarly situated.

The attorney who filed the lawsuit told The Chattanoogan that “United Community Bank’s improper debit card fee practices are costing Dennis … and many others like him, exorbitant sums and taking away a substantial percentage of income. Their practice of conducting authorized- positive, settled- negative transactions is deceptive and bears potential impact on all of UCB’s clients. UCB’s customers should be aware of the bank’s practices and the frequency with which they result in significant, unforeseen, personal cost to customers.”

Among Dennis’s allegations, he claims account agreements were allegedly breached by UCB by charging overdraft fees to accounts that had sufficient available balance at the time of authorization. The bank allegedly charged “multiple insufficient funds fees” for one customer transaction. Through its overdraft policies and procedures, UCB allegedly breached its “covenant of good faith and UCB engaged in deceptive acts/practices regarding its overdraft fees.

One of the law firm’s partners representing the Class Members told The Chattanoogan, “It is our hope that [Dennis] …, representing the class of behalf of which this lawsuit was filed, can put a stop to UCB’s unfair and improper fee practices. UCB’s customers put their trust in the bank to comply with its own promises. Those customers who have been victimized by UCB’s improper practices, in direct violation of the bank’s promises, have suffered considerable financial losses. It is our goal to not only be granted restoration of these improper fees, but to hold UCB accountable for their wrongful actions.”

Dennis, along the proposed class members, demand a trial by jury. Other judgments being demanded as part of the debit card overdraft fees class action lawsuit include:

• Declaring UCB’s overdraft practices as wrong.
• Requiring UCB to stop its practices and conduct pertaining to its overdraft fees
• Demanding punitive and actual damages
• Granting restitution for overdraft fees paid by Dennis and all class members because of UCB’s alleged faulty overdraft fee practices.

Frequent lawsuits have been filed against banks across the United States over allegations of unnecessary charges to customer accounts. According to reports, overdraft fees have constituted a large amount of revenue  for banks and credit unions throughout the United States. According to Forbes, in 2009 alone banks generated approximately $37 billion from overdraft charges on ATM transactions and from debit card purchases.

If you or someone you know have suffered from wrongful overdraft fee practices, you may be eligible to file and join in a debit card overdraft fees class action lawsuit.

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